[Sca-cooks] preserving fruits without sugar

[silverr0se at aol.com]

It's not sugar free, but check out my sugar plum article in the Florilegium - it works for just about any? stone fruit.



Renata


-----Original Message-----
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
To: SCA-Cooks maillist SCA-Cooks <SCA-Cooks at Ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 6:58 pm
Subject: [Sca-cooks] preserving fruits without sugar




Vittoria asked about preserving some fruit:

<<< - I would love to dry some of the fruit, but don't have access to a
dehydrator.  Has anyone had success with sun-drying?  Any tips?  (I'm
currently in hot and arid Southern California, perfect conditions for
sun-drying, but I'd be happy to hear any recommended "dos and don'ts"  
before
I actually attempt it.)  >>>

An oven set on low can be used. So can sun drying. Both of these are  
covered in this file in the FOOD section of the Florilegium:
drying-foods-msg  (55K)  9/16/02    Drying foods in period and for  
the SCA.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/drying-foods-msg.html

<<< - Is it possible to make jam using honey in place of sugar, or to  
leave the
sugar out entirely?  (I don't care if it's not as sweet -- in fact, I'd
prefer that -- but I imagine some sugar would be necessary to get the  
stuff
to gel properly and to preserve it.)  >>>

I'm not sure how much info there is in this file on preserves using  
honey, but it might be worth a look:
marmalades-msg   (104K)  4/30/07    Period marmalades and fruit  
jellies and jams
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/marmalades-msg.html

<<<- I've seen some descriptions of whole fruits preserved in honey  
-- I think
in Platina or Apicius, but all my books are still in storage so I can't
double-check that.  Basically, they say to put whole, cleaned, raw  
fruits (I
think figs, grapes?, apples and pears were mentioned) in jars/ 
vessels, pour
honey over the top, seal it and it'll last for weeks.  >>>

I'm not sure if you are speaking of suckets or not.
suckets-msg        (7K)  4/ 1/02    Spices, fruit or fruit peel in a  
sugar syrup
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/suckets-msg.html

Not a period technique, but have you considered canning some of the  
fruit? You don't have to make it into a preserve to do this:
canning-msg       (44K) 11/ 5/06    Use of canning in the SCA.  
Directions.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/canning-msg.html

And there is pickling of the fruit. Here are some period recipes:
compost-msg       (82K)  8/25/06    A pickled food of fruits and  
vegetables.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/compost-msg.html

This might have some useful ideas as well:
food-storage-msg  (85K)  6/ 8/00    Storing and preserving food in  
period. Non-
                                       refrigerated food for camping  
and Pennsic.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/food-storage-msg.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****


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